1. Michael Long: Michael has led more feature laps (125) than any other driver in any other weekly series at the track.2. Steven DeLonjay: Only sport compact ace Austen Becerra (15) has more overall races than Steven (13).3. Denny Woodworth: There has been no driver even close to Denny’s consistency this season. I guess that’s why he is beginning to pull away in the points race.4. Tony Dunker: If Tony were a quarterback he would be a Peyton Manning or John Elway — the king of the fourth-quarter comeback. He’s won won four features and led just 20 laps all season. That’s like winning four games with rallies in the final two minutes.5. Austen Becerra: Without any additions or rainouts to the remaining Quincy Raceways schedule, the sport compacts will run five more times. That means if Austen runs the table with feature victories he would wind up with 15. That would tie him for the second-most main event wins in the modern era, trailing only Michael Long (16) in 2007.

Tony Dunker

6. Dave Wietholder: OK, so it’s time to start a new streak. (And since I never thought Dave would miss a night of racing, I have to try and figure out who now has the longest ironman streak going.)7. Tanner Klingele: Tanner trails only Tony Dunker (157-156) in second-half points.8. Mark Burgtorf: Mark and the rest of the late models get a week off to regroup before the stretch run.9. Abe Huls: Abe has Brandon Savage breathing down his neck in the stock car division — and these rankings.10. Brandon Savage: Brandon has 10 overall victories, one of just four drivers at the track who are in double figures. Austen Becerra (15), Steven DeLonjay (13) and Michael Long (10) are the others.

Brandon Savage (photo courtesy of Gregg Teel)

11. Jason Perry: That was one wicked hit on the front stretch Sunday night.12. Craig Spegal: Most improved driver in the modified series?13. Ricky Frankel: Ricky’s still a solid bet to finish third in late model points. That would be two spots higher than a year ago.14. Brad Holtmeyer: Brad’s one of four drivers with two or more feature wins among the sport mods.15. Keith Pratt: It was about this time a year ago that Keith started his fast and furious finish to the 2013 season.

Shawn Deering (photo courtesy of Gregg Teel)

16. Bobby Anders: As strange as this may seem, Bobby has not led a feature since May 25.17. Joey Gower: … and Joey has not led a feature since June 1.18. Terry Houston: When Terry won the July 27 feature he became the sixth different stock car driver to collect a checkered flag this season.19. Brandon Lambert: Most improved driver in the sport compact class?20. Shawn Deering: Shawn is rally 40 years old?

Clint Kirkham (photo courtesy of Gregg Teel)

21. Beau Taylor: … and before the season’s over, I think Beau will be No. 7.22. Brandon Lennox: Ouch, that DQ hurt.23. Kim Abbott: Congrats to Kim’s pop for that rapid trip home and back on Sunday night.24. Jake Powers: Don’t even think about asking The Snake how Sunday night went.25. Clint Kirkham: Clint’s fourth-place feature finish in Sunday’s late model feature was his top showing of the season.

26. Justin Reed: Watch out for that tire, bud.27. Gordy Gundaker: He should return the next time the late models are in action.28. Craig Bangert: He hasn’t had a bad outing since his return to the sport compacts.29. Nathan Hayes: Only Brandon Savage has led more stock-car feature laps.30. Jerry Jansen: Right now, if Jerry didn’t have bad luck he’d have no luck at all.

yeah, DQ’d for an IMCA sticker on a wheel…I get that it is a rule and all but when you need cars you think you’d give the guy a warning..especially when the wheel with the sticker was bent into a U after the heat race.. then Joe tells Brandon not to come back…once again a bad move when you need cars.

I understand your feelings. Let me try and explain. First, Gundaker finished third AND first in back-to-back late model features and said he would be here most of the rest of the season. He was not ranked after the third-place finish, but when he followed that up with the victory (coupled with his intentions to run at QR) he was moved into the rankings, albeit relatively low. (Hey, he had missed most of the year, right? You don’t get a free pass, bay-bee. If he’s not at the next show or performs poorly, he’ll likely be bounced from the rankings since he has so few races to his credit.)

Li’l Schlip is one of our all-time faves and a perennial top-10 rankings choice (even a No. 1 at times!), but had fallen out of the rankings in recent weeks year because of his car’s obvious mechanical issues. He had been unable to run the previous two shows leading up to Sunday. Could he have moved back into the rankings after Sunday? Of course. It was a subjective call and I went the other way because of his unfortunate track record this season. If he had enjoyed more consistent success it would have been a no-brainer. If he comes back strong again this week don’t worry — he’ll be well on his way back up the rankings.

Also, look at this way, Jared will be the No. 1 candidate for comeback driver of the year in 2015!

A few other thoughts:

— Craig Spegal made a big jump this week after a series of solid weeks and then his top showing of the year. He did not automatically jump to this week’s spot. He had methodically earned it.
— Robbie Reed, another all-time rankings favorite, dropped out after missing three of the last four shows.
— Mark Burgtorf tumbled a bit in the rankings after his recent struggles, but has held on to a relatively high spot because of his consistent success early and midway in the season.

One bad week doesn’t mean an automatic ticket to oblivion, nor does one good week win the lottery.

It’s an inexact science, to say the least. I try and update the rankings late Sunday night while everything is still relatively fresh in my mind and all the paperwork is in front of me.

Unfortunately Brandon was DQ’d for not having an IMCA sticker. It’s a rule. Obviously Joe can’t check every rule every night, but when he does look for something and sees it, we have to do what IMCA says we have to do. If we did anything else, we’d be playing favorites.

Brandon is a good guy and has been really supportive of the track. You hate doing that to a guy who goes out of his way to race here as much as he can. But we can’t have it both ways and look the other way on some things and for some people and not others.

I don’t like it. It stinks. But there’s really no other option once it’s been noticed. That’s the rule and IMCA has specific procedures about this… and the track isn’t given discretion. It stinks for Brandon, but anyone who finished behind him would have a right to be really upset if we didn’t follow the rule.

As hard as it is to get cars, I would have probably told Brandon in private “get a sticker on your wheel asap”. I would think a warning would be sufficient. As much rule breaking that goes on and Joe notices a dang sticker missing on a wheel! Lol. Bet that missing sticker really gave Brandon an edge! Wow. Thanks for the response Kenny D. I appreciate what CilTrak has done for QR. This rule seems a little silly though. I realize its IMCAs rule. I almost bet someone called him out. Brandon has been running strong (couple feature wins at Fulton) sounds as if someone doesn’t want more competition at QR. Hmmm. I wonder who that would be #3?

On another note. I hear Burgtorf is taking over the driving duties of the Frankel #33. Glad to see the #33 will still be on the track, but I guess this means the #7B will be parked. One less car in a class that is struggling for cars. I would have guessed Long would have been the replacement being in the family? Good luck to all parties involved.

Well lets say they do just give a “warning”, then someone over hears that and then it’s “playing favorites” and we have a lot more people on here complaining about that than him just being dq’d. It seems like it was a simple mistake but rules are rules, plain and simple. Thank you Kenny D for a full explanation of the deal. Good to see the promoter explain how they came to the decision and stand behind it

I understand the “look the other way” line of thinking and to be real honest if this had happened at Jacksonville under UMP rules, we would have probably issued a deficiency slip or otherwise tell him to have it fixed by next week.

Unlike the UMP rule book, IMCA has specific penalties for this infraction. By being an IMCA track, we agree to abide by and enforce their rules. There have been a few times this season where I personally didn’t agree with an IMCA rule (e.g. the rule about Brandon not being able to drive the Late Model as well as the Sportmod), but there are UMP rules I don’t agree with either.

Taken as a whole, the benefits of a strong sanctioning body outweigh a go it alone approach, and if we are going to enjoy the benefits of being an IMCA track for those classes, then we kind of have to live with some of the smaller things we might disagree with.

One thing I’ve learned is that there’s a reason behind any rule (track or sanctioning body) and usually it’s a pretty good reason once you learn what it is. It’s not like they get made up out of thin air. So while hearing a rule like “you have to have a sticker on your wheel”, might sound petty (even to me and Tommy when we heard it for the first time as anyone in the scoring tower Sunday would attest to), I’m confident there’s a well thought-out reason why it’s there.

HEY HEY SHOWSTOPPER…BEEN LOOKIN WEEK AFTER WEEK FOR YOUR NAME ON THE LINE UP BOARD. WHERE YA AT? ONLY A MONTH OF RACING LEFT.

SORRY TO INFORM YA BUT I 1ST HEARD OF THE DQ WHEN I PULLED IN TECH AND 17 CAR WAS ALREADY GONE (HADTA GET MY PICTURE TAKEN..DIDJA SEE THEM LAST 2 LAPS?)..YOU DIDNT STOP THAT SHOW!

JOE B IS A KNOWLEDGABLE TECH MAN. UNFORTUNATELY IN THIS INSTANCE A FEW OF THE RULES ARE “WALK BY” NOTICABLE & CAUGHT JOES EYE. I HEARD 17 HAD A FEW CHOICE WORDS FOR JOE WHICH FINALIZED THE CALL OR IT MITA BEEN A WISPER IN THE EAR TYPE OF DEAL.
WAS IT PERFORMANCE ENHANCING? NO..BUT NEITHER IS A METAL MUD COVER V.S A PLASTIC ONE BUT ONLY PLASTIC & FOAM ARE ALLOWED.
IMCA STICKERED WHEELS COST $5 MORE THAN UNSTICKERED WHEELS AND THAT $5 FROM WHEEL MANUFACTURERS GOES TOWARD END OF YEAR POINT FUNDS

GOOD LUCK GETTIN HER BACK TOGETHER JERRY J & GOOD LUCK MARK B IN THE #33